The nation’s capital has been abuzz for months, wondering what the much-anticipated Obama broadband plan will look like.
Will it be an Obama Broadband plan that looks like a clone of the successful Obama Phone free government cell phone program? Will it look more like Comcast’s Internet Essentials, the $9.95 per month plan to bring cheap internet to millions of financially-disadvantaged American families? Or will it be something completely new and different?
We may now have our first clue as to at least a part of the puzzle.
On Tuesday the White House announced its support for the growth of community and municipal networks that help bring fast and affordable Gigabit networks to communities with too few choices of internet service providers. The administration’s support includes efforts to end laws in states that forbid such competition, new federal funding, and a new initiative to support community broadband.
There are currently 135 municipalities across the nation that have built or announced plans to build their own fiber optic networks to bring dependable, affordable, high-speed internet service to their residents. On the other hand, twenty states have passed laws — at the behest of cable television and telephone company lobbyists — that inhibit the ability of municipalities to offer cable services to their citizens. Some states have passed such restrictive laws that muni networks are virtually impossible to build or operate. The Obama administration opposes these laws.
“Going back a century, in the 1930s,” said Jeff Zients, White House Director of the National Economic Council, “many argued that electricity was a luxury, and too modern for [many rural communities] to take advantage of. Broadband is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity.”
The White House wants to bring high-speed broadband service to communities across the country, so it has thrown its support behind the Next Century Cities Coalition, fifty cities working toward that same goal, and Gig.U, a partnership of 37 research universities.
The White House statement praised the pioneering gigabit cities and said, “To recognize these remarkable individuals and the partnerships they have built, in June 2015 the White House will host a Community Broadband Summit of mayors and county commissioners from around the nation who are joining this movement for broadband solutions and economic revitalization.”
What are gigabit networks and why should you care about them? Simple. They are high-speed municipal networks usually operated as a public utility, much like your water, electric and gas service, and they offer internet speeds nearly 100 times faster than typical internet offerings. Most municipal networks offer these blazing speeds at prices far more affordable than what’s available from most cable and telephone companies.
Perhaps a little background is in order:
BroadbandBreakfast notes that, “The new BroadbandUSA initiative at the Commerce Department builds upon the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s broadband stimulus efforts from 2009 to 2013. In particular, the White House said, ‘BroadbandUSA will offer online and in-person technical assistance to communities; host a series of regional workshops around the country; and publish guides and tools that provide communities with proven solutions to address problems in broadband infrastructure planning, financing, construction, and operations across many types of business models.'”
In regard to some of those prohibitive state laws, Zients suggested that President Obama will take an active role in “formally opposing measures that limit the range of options available to communities to spur expanded local broadband infrastructure.”
If you’d like to delve into more of the nuts-and-bolts of the the White House report, we’ve linked to it here.
We applaud the White House’s decision to promote gigabit municipal networks. Other potential solutions to eliminating the Digital Divide between high-speed internet adoption rates of America’s rich and its poor seem to be slow in coming.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen the way the elephantine federal government can throw piles of money and manpower at a problem without actually solving it. So we believe that overturning state prohibitions and turning control of this issue back to local municipalities sounds like the solution we — and you — have been waiting for.
And any step forward is a good step.
Angiehoa Nguyen says
Would you please help me , right now I am low income, and AT&T charge internet to hight .would you please give to me apply internet essentials at the same affordable $9,95 per month
Thanks and appreciate
Lorraine Mcneal says
when do this begin. please let me know thank you very much